


Spes

by Satanisalwayscreaming



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: A lot of angst ngl, Angst, Civil War? Not happening here, F/F, F/M, Gen, I like that, I mean it's mentioned - Freeform, M/M, This is also a mashup of the comics and movies, also, also it's not a lot of blood and gore but there's references of torture, and death and human trafficking but it's not focal?, and in the first chapter or few it'll be referenced but it won't be anymore, but it'll end up happy owo, except there's a lot of angst, flangst, ngl I just went buck wild with this idea, please leave comments if ever uwu, so like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:07:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26634832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Satanisalwayscreaming/pseuds/Satanisalwayscreaming
Summary: It's been 5 years since Ultron's defeat.Captain America with his team of Avengers set out on a SHIELD operative, originally supposed to be a simple bust of illegal activities, it soon devolves into a complicated mess that leaves the world once more at stake. With Tony and Rhodes busy with their own affairs and Falcon on his own mission, it's up to Captain America, Hawkeye, Wanda, and Vision to stop the world from turning upside down.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Wanda Maximoff, Natasha Romanov & Vision, Steve Rogers & Vision, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Wanda Maximoff & Natasha Romanov, Wanda Maximoff & Steve Rogers, Wanda Maximoff/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Spes

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello hello!
> 
> If you're reading this fic, first of all, thank you! But if you don't read the tags please be aware this chapter has references to Suicide via cyanide, torture, and blood. 
> 
> But if you still want to carry on, please leave a comment! It helps with motivation and also if I need to improve anything with my writing.

_“What’s it like?” Natasha asks, eyeing his shield._   
  
_“You’ve used it before,” Steve points out. “You know how to use it.”_   
  
_“True,” She hums, her gaze seemingly trailing over the bright surface of the shield before turning her attention to him. “But how do you feel? Carrying it, knowing what it means, what it stands for?”_   
  
_There’s a tone in her voice that sounds like she’s aching for something. As if she’s searching for something from him. “Heavy.” He admits. “It’s like a weight on my back...a reminder of who I am and what I’m supposed to be.”_   
  
_Natasha nods, sympathetic. She’s mulling over his answer and he wonders what’s going on her mind. He doesn’t really understand her sometimes but he knows how it feels like, getting trapped in his own head. So he moves just a little, sitting beside her and she looks up at him, confusion on her face and for a moment he sees the calculations running in her mind before he sits beside her and nudges her gently with his shoulder._   
  
_They sit in silence after, watching the sky go buy on S.H.I.E.L.D.S Heli carrier._

* * *

  
  
“Captain!”  
  
For a moment, he sees a flash of red and his heart leaps to his throat, thinking it’s her. But it’s only for a moment, and he barrels into the group of oncoming attackers. Their stun batons bouncing off harmlessly from his shield as he clears the room.   
  
“Clear!” He shouts, his shield held tight eyeing the darkened laboratory. “No hostiles,”  
  
“Clear here too!” Hawkeye shouts from outside. “They’re all down and Wanda’s rounding them up.” Captain America turns around to find Hawkeye walking closer as soon as he finished talking. “Found anything interesting?”  
  
“Only this,” he gestures to the surgical equipment. Clint reaches for the switch, and the lights flicker for a moment before lighting up. Suddenly the room is flooded with a bright, white light and everything becomes clear. There’s blood-stained on the white floor. Blood on the surgical beds, on the equipment.  
  
Blood staining everywhere.  
  
“What the fuck,” Clint says, moving closer, his movements slow as he looks over the equipment. “This is...this wrong.”  
  
Steve nods, unable to stomach the sight in front of him. He’s seen things in the war, he’s seen things throughout his life, but it never erases the wrongness or the pain that coils in his gut. The idea that if he had been quicker, if they had known, then this wouldn’t have happened.  
  
It takes a few moments before they manage to move and look for any useful data.  
  
But the hardware was scrubbed clean. The devices were reset, the surgical equipment left there seemed like a taunt, or perhaps a reminder of how they missed them. Clint lingers, trying to comb through every nook and cranny while Steve walks out to check up on Wanda.   
  
The young mutant was talking with a SHIELD agent, clearly agitated and he’d worried as he walks towards them. “What’s wrong?”   
  
The agent snaps a salute and Steve gives a dismissive nod. “Vision found something,” Wanda says and the soldier hands over a tablet. “We found this device on one of the mercenaries,”  
  
He takes it and reads through the opened file. It was a manifest, detailing the cargo. He shakes his head as he reads on. These were the missing girls...each and everyone reported had come through this place. Given what was in the laboratory, it made him sick. But he reads on, trying to find out more.  
  
“Can we trace this?” He asks, looking at the agent. “Run background checks on the mercenaries? Find out if anyone hired them within the last few months?”  
  
“Director Fury has already sent the recovered files to be decoded.” The agent replies. “They’re running through it as we speak. We also found that the mercenaries had cyanide on their person...” The agent trails off and Steve already knows what he means. “But we can’t find any canister in their mouths.”  
  
“Is it possible that it was activated from somewhere else?” Wanda asks. “A sort of device off-site?”  
  
“It is, but we’ll need to do an autopsy,” the agent says. “I’ll have the files sent and the team ready at our arrival back to base.”  
  
“Thank you, soldier.” Steve nods, a curt dismissal which the solider picks up and gives a quick salute to both of them before heading towards the exit. “How are you holding up?” He asks turning to look at Wanda.   
  
“Good,” she says, though the worry in her eyes tell a different story. “No injuries... but I’m just thinking about the people brought here...the agent showed me that the manifest was just 1 of many...”  
  
He nods. “I know...but if we shut this down, then we’ll be able to avenge them...give them some form of peace at least.”   
  
The words don’t seem to comfort her as much, and before he can say anything else, Clint walks out of the laboratory. His expression is grim, and when he arrives he simply nods. “I found them...”  
  


* * *

The flight back was quiet.  
  
It was a painful, sinking quiet that no one dares disrupt. Clint is sitting on one of the seats, with Wanda leaned against him asleep. Vision is quietly staring outside, watching the stars as they pass them by. Steve sits near the pilot, his shield by his side.  
  
His mind wanders, and he tries to steer back on course, but it simply wanders along. How long ago was all of this? The girls were reported missing months ago...what would have happened if they were found earlier? If SHIELD was alerted about it earlier?  
  
If Natasha was here, she would have scolded him to be more careful, stop overthinking. Overthinking and worrying about what-if’s would only hurt him.  
  
Yet every day, after every mission, he keeps thinking about it. What if he arrived a little earlier? What if he wasn’t knocked out by the flashbang? What if he was able to stop her from getting shot?   
  
What if Natasha was still alive?  
  
The weight of it all seems to get heavier, and he’s left staring at the floor, the red dancing in his vision like a cruel reminder of the woman he loves. Did she die hating him? Did she die thinking he’d be able to rescue her?  
  
“Captain?”   
  
Vision’s voice brings him out of his thoughts, long enough at least to focus on the being who looks at him curiously, regarding him with the same caution he always had. “Will you be sleeping? It seems like you’re in need of some rest.”  
  
“I will,” he manages to breathe out, his reply breathy and full of barely put together strength, “You should rest too.”  
  
“I will,” Vision replies in a nonchalant manner, and Steve wonders briefly if he ever needed sleep. “But I think about what happened...what would have happened had we been earlier?”  
  
Hearing the question out loud hurts, but Steve pulls himself together enough to respond. “I don’t know.”


End file.
